Registering a .ie domain name is set to get easier!

You may have heard about the IEDR’s plans to relax the rules in terms of what is required to register a .ie domain. The change takes place in March 2018, so we want to make sure that you understand what is changing and how it might affect you.

Firstly, if you already have a .ie domain registered then there is no impact on your existing domain. You will need to renew as usual to ensure that it stays protected, but otherwise there is no reason to worry.

If you are going to register a .ie domain under the current rules, you need to prove 3 things: connection to the island of Ireland, your identity, and a claim to the name that you are trying to register.
In March, the first two requirements remain in place and unchanged, while the last one will be removed.

IEDR are making the change as this requirement created a barrier for new business who wanted to register the domain for their proposed business name to safeguard it before registering the company name. Protecting a business name can be important before you even decide whether to go ahead with the business, so this will now be possible under the changes.

They also want to make it possible for an Irish person to claim a domain name for their nickname or pen name.

All of this is to try to make the process of registering a .ie domain name quicker and easier, while still ensuring that .ie domain names can only be held by Irish people or businesses.

If this change goes against you and somebody registers a .ie domain using your name, there will be a process for dispute resolution.

If you have a domain in mind that you would like to register and protect, now is the time to do that to ensure that it is not available for somebody else to take after the rules change. If you are not sure about how to do that, we can help you with that.